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suitable for bees,, and includes an extensive
reference section of plants listed alpha-
betically under generic name (but easily
accessible to the non—special ist as the common
names are included in the index).
I thought the authors could have included more
colour photographs or some line illustrations
of some of the plants as memory—joggers. (I
still can't remember what bee-balm (Melissa
officinalis) looks like.) Also some of the
colour photographs look a little amateurish;
most were taken by the authors. The black and
white photographs are by and large good,
including a lovely one of a cat snoozing in the
catmint on page 107. The text of the plant
species reference section is useful. It tells
you lots about the growing characteristics of
the plants, why bees like them (i.e. for nectar
or pollen) and also other interesting bits of
information, i.e. why you find lots of dead
bees under flowering limes in summer. I
thought some plants were odd inclusions, i.e. I
didn't know the hellebores (big green butter—
cups!) were attractive to bees and I was
puzzled at the inclusion of holly which I would
never have1 thought was worth planting for
bees. I liked the last chapter on "bee-
friendly" pesticides and herbicides.
Although the book is primarily a reference book
meant for anyone interested in keeping honey
bees the book is full of good ideas for plants
to plant in the garden, and what is good for
honey bees has to be good for a whole host of
garden insects. Also there is no reason not
to further the idea to create a garden for our
native bumble bees which have come under a lot